Devil In The Details: Kevin Martin's Big Plans
Earlier this month the FCC convened the final of six public hearings to air out concerns about this proposed rule change. I have watched, listened to or attended all of these hearings and one thing is clear. The public is single-mindedly opposed to more media consolidation.
Martin himself admitted recently that he remembers "only one" public witness calling for relaxation of media ownership rules at these hearings.
This public opposition is not just evident in the passion of the thousands of people who came to the FCC hearings in Seattle, Los Angeles, Nashville, Tampa, Harrisburg and Chicago. It's a fact reflected in the public record.
The last time the FCC tried to change the rules in 2003, millions of people contacted Congress and the FCC to oppose the changes, which were ultimately thrown out by the courts. My organization, Free Press, checked the filings and found that more than 99 percent of the public comments received by the FCC opposed changing the rules.
None of this has halted Martin's headlong rush to let loose a new wave of consolidation by the end of the year.
FreePress has this .pdf report as well: 10 Facts Kevin Martin Doesn’t Want You to Know About His New Media Ownership Rules
FreePress has ways for you to get involved as well.
The LAW? What do I care for the LAW? Hain't I the power?
Commodore Martinbilt
How did this punk ever become Chairman of ANYTHING let alone the FCC? Could it have been BUSH (SATAN)?
There is only one question that needs answering: Which of the media conglomerates has paid off Kevin Martin, either with cash, stocks, or the promise of a high-paying job upon his resignation from the FCC?
Church Lady @ 2:
"Punk" is the best word I can come up to describe this little sack of s***.
They have been stopped before and we have to stop them again. Followed your link and sent my message. Thanks for the link. This is very important. :)
Moyers covered this a week ago, and the hearing was truly worth watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WWU5Q9_09w
They tore Kevin martin a new one for 9 1/2 hours straight, and then he went back the next day to DC and put forth his plan for increasing media consolidation anyway.
Bill Moyers weighed in on this recently with this fantastic piece:
FCC Media Consolidation
It shows this guy for the corporate whoring blackened soul that he is.
it's about time to tie a shoestring around Kevin Martin’s big plans (little nuts) with a large rock on the other end and throw it over the bridge. he loves stretching
his nutsthe truth.The dude doesn't look old enough to be outside by himself. You just know there is something big in it for him if he gets this through. What's his background, besides high school and boy scouts?
Anything to put Murdoch's nose out of joint.
Is Faux News lobbying hard around this issue, invoking freedom of speech and all that crud?
lol... An adage about thinking alike springs to mind Bill. :)
Welcome to the third world, America.
This is not democracy. These are dictates.
...
No one has any say in this government except Republicans. The FCC will have it's way and congress has NOTHING to say about it, much like the occupaion of Iraq. The president has locked congress out of all government processes. Why not dissolve it entirely and save us some money?
Someone needs to put Kevin Martin in timeout for the next few years.
Our best hope is a complete reversal of the consolidation of media. Though unlikely it may become more popular as the push for slackened regulation awakens more Americans. Wanna be in the media business? No problem. Choose one format, newspaper, magazine, Internet site, radio, TV, or whatever comes along in the next few years. But don't expect to own more than one of any of these. All current media companies must be required to completely divest. Let a thousand points of light shine facts and analysis instead of a dozen. Ask yourself: Could these crooks gotten away with their lies if they were unable to control dissemination of the truth?
[Deleted. Off topic and blogwhoring-Sitemonitor]
NO ONE cares what the people think. Look around.
[Deleted. Off topic and blogwhoring-Sitemonitor]
[Deleted. Off topic and blogwhoring. That's it. You've been warned in the past. We'll be reviewing your posts before they show up on the board now-Sitemonitor]
ccoaler, gotta stay on the post topic, kiddo. Just a friendly reminder.
Nate @ 11:
;)
are people actually complaining about the fact that they want to make the crack(read media) stonger?
Simple, STOP PAYING TO WATCH TV COMMERCIALS! Drop your cable bill, and read something! read a book, read a blog, read SOMETHING!
boo-hiss-boo... you can send thousands of kids off to die in the desert, but we will march on your ass if you mess with our TV's?
Yep, were screwed
ccoaler @ 16, 18 & 19.
Dude, maybe you should think about setting up your own blog.
https://www.blogger.com/start
Check it out.
[I wish he would... :lol: Sitemonitor]
This is a fascist state - did you think something else would happen? This is good for business.
Now - shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down.
I urge everyone to go to the link and sign up. It only takes a minute. This is vital.
I'd like to say "for the people, by the people", but this smuck was an appointee.
Lollimom @ 4:
Martin is a Harvard lawyer with a political background. Maybe he was hoping for a US Attorney spot at DoJ. We need people with background in the area they are responsible for and integrity.
OK, went to the free press link.. sign on, did that... A-GAIN....Seems like I was just signing on to something like this just awhile back.... Criminy, why does is seem like every other minute when Bush himself isn't fucking shit up, I find myself fighting this same old media consolidation battle all over again... Over and over...ad nuseum... And with 99 percent of public response clearly in opposition... then and now... What is the point of public comment if it is just going to be ignored?
Good for bidness someone snarked?... Already been proven...
Not even close... In fact, bad for bidness...
Yes, this little Martin twit is indeed a punk! Someone ought smack that little smark-alecks ass and send him to bed without his supper... Jesus, he barely looks like he's out of high school..
Figures Bush would be behind his appointment.. What's it going to take exactly to stop this shit!!! Throwing T.V.s out of sky scrappers? Ripping phones off of walls? Pissing on cell phones in the middle of a Verizon store??? carjacking millionaires indiscriminately in limos... What what what?
I'm fucking sick and tired of this shit! I wish Kevin Martin read blogs.. I got a short sweet message for him.. Stop it you little shit! Stop this stupidity... ENOUGH already with the sweetheart consolidation scams for media millionaires... You just aren't going to make enough money on the kickbacks to pay for the plastic surgery it's gonna cost you IF you should happen to have the limo break down in the wrong part of town for all this shit you are helping to cause with your ham handed handling of the FCC you fucking little prick! JD
pissed off patricia @ 14:
next few centuries
or better yet, permantly
This is not Media Consolidation! This is Censorship plain and simple.
Saint Augustine @ 27:
Surprise, Harvard (Yale too) these folks are running/ruining this country. :(
This guy looks like he should be at home playing with his GI Joes and not heading up the FCC. This kid has to be a Bush appointee. Which brings up another question.....do all of these jerk-offs that Bush appointed go with the WarPigs after they finally vacate the White House? I know the S.C. judges stay, but what about the rest of them?
Choosing who controls the FCC may be MORE IMPORTANT than choosing who controls the Supreme Court!
Think I'm crazy? The country was sold a war based on lies. Had there been an equal number of progressive radio stations to combat the liars on the neo-conservative radio stations the lie would've been neutralized. The public never would've supported the invasion. The result:
* 1.2 million Iraqis would be alive
* 4,000 American soldiers would be alive
* 2 Trillion dollars would still be in the treasury
and this is just ONE example of how a stacked media has caused irrepairable harm to our country.
Whoever controls the media controls the country!
My point was that media consolidation inevitably enables censorship. I think we're talking about two parts of the same thing. One is cause, the other effect.
Who the f*ck is Kevin Martin?
Where did he come from?
Is he another, ass*ole illegitimate spawn of the Bush clan?
IMPEACH!
Piss on Kevin Martin (what else is he good for?)
Preacher Boob @ 35:
He came from Charlotte, NC. I am sad to say that we attended the same High School.
The media refused to cover any of these most important stories. Ask your friends about any of these and you'll get blank stares. It's absolutely criminal. And now we're going to get more consolidation?
1) Downing Street Memos - Smoking Gun proof that Bush/Cheney lied us into the Iraq War
2) The Disappearance of Habeas Corpus - The foundation of Democracy erased with the Military Commissions Act
3) Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 Rescinded - Allows US troops to operate on U.S. soil against U.S. citizens
4) Net Neutraility Legislation - Allows all websites to operate on level field and is in danger of being eradicated
5) Caging Lists of Millions!! of Minority Voters Scrubbed from Voter Rolls - The Proof is sitting in a desk in John Conyers office. Nobody has touched this story.
6) The danger from unregulated Hedge funds - Could be worse to economy than Housing market implosion
These are just six quick stories off the top of my head. I could come up with a hundred more the "media" refuses to report. We need the media companies heavily REGULATED and CHOPPED UP into smaller pieces. Further consolidation will bring us more WAR, less civil liberties, more Government corruption and further destruction of the middle and lower classes. That's a Guarantee!
This is what happens when there is no participation in the functions of government and we have people like Martin, who wasn't and wouldn't be elected, with a lot of control over our lives. I've given up hope that voting the right representatives into power will do anything, I'd like to have power for myself and every other American directly and take it from the crooks in the government, both parties. Voting the white knight into office has proven to solve nothing what so ever.
The courts have noted that democracy depends on "an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will prevail" - a marketplace where there is a "wide diversity of viewpoints from a multiplicity of sources."
This is exactly what the government of the corporation, by the corporation, and for the corporation doesn't want. They don't want an honest debate on say, why, if free trade is working, why are we incurring deficits year after year?
They want in a presidential debate, questions directed at Hillary as to whether she prefers diamonds over pearls, rather than a question like, how does she plan to curtail the rise in costs for health care which is at double the rate of inflation without going the single payer route. (Her corporate welfare version isn't likely to address the cost issue).
It seemed clear to me during the run up to the Iraq war, the already limited diversity within the media prevented questions like, say, if there are is this proof of these weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, why is it that no one can point Hans Blix and the weapon inspectors to where they're located?
30 years ago, people behind the iron curtain needed radio free Europe and Voice of America to keep them informed. Now it is us that needs foreign sources to counter the misinformation of a corporate media acting in lockstep.
The whole point of consolidation is to drive up the prices of mass communications so that only well financed entities can get their message out. A half-billion to get elected President keeps politicians corporate owned. The only competition this corporate government is interested in is pitting US labor against 3rd world labor. Next stop, net neutrality.
pepper @ 39:
What is there to participate in, really? You can write letters to your elected ventriloquist's dummy until you're blue in the face, but nothing can ever be changed because laws are made by powerful lobbies, not by "we the people". This is the delusion. The Members of the "Houses of Congress" don't represent anyone but themselves, and they do as their handlers tell them, otherwise forget that big lifelong pension and free health care...The whole thing is a lie.
I wish the FCC would do something about how two radio stations keep coming in on the same frequency around here. Since that's the FCC's actual job, not telling us what we can and cannot listen to or the other bullshit they're always doing.
If you think this is something, just wait until we get this sleazy bastard out of the white house and really start reviewing media tapes and all of the corruption and bull shit he and these right wing nasty ass republicans have done.
One example that comes to mind is during the 2004 election, when American people were just not paying close attention (oh but i sure as hell was), if you go back to the campaign trail, when Bush continued to follow Senator Kerry all over the country, he carried an equal team of ass holes with Bush signs that he would filter into the Kerry crowds and along with this disgusting media, would doctor the film to make it seem as though all these people were there to support Bush. They were so incompetent in their devious efforts to blow smoke up our asses, they failed to realize that many of the people in the same backdrop with the same clothes on could be recognized as the same people you just saw earlier, supporting Senator Kerry.
These are just some of the reasons, why we really need to get these sick bastards off the air waves. It is going to be very important that our new President uses good common sense, when installing a new FCC, chairman to slap the hell out of these media criminals and give us our net work system back.
As we can see that they are in a real hurry to rush this latest scheme of a new form of media consolidation, just in time for the 2008 election folks.
Rupert Murdock is just licking his nasty chops and worse yet, we have to depend on the Dian Feinstine's of the Senate, to denounce this shit.
Under Comrade Martin, the FCC is now the Fascist Communications Commission.
the Chicago School cult's hubris knows no bounds
Didja ever get the premonition that somewhere, deep down in the bowels of the Bush administration, there's a nobody named Joe Crawford who's heading a commission that's about to declare Bush 'President for Life', and make it stick?
I sure hope I don't live that long, 'cause I'd hafta kill somebody.
Why didn't I hear about the meeting in Harrisburg through my local media outlets?
Oh yeah! Derrrrrrrr....
I need a t-shirt or bumper sticker that says "I (heart) Crooks and Liars!" Thank you very much for posting this information!
What if Air America had the holdings of Fox and was seeking more,
would we hear anything about that?
If things like this keep happening, broken government and corruption on a massive scale by those who have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States...the next logical step can only be REVOLUTION. If we the people do not take back this country form the crooks and liars and reestablish a democratic republic we the people are going to be in a world of hurt. Are you ready to live in a world where China is the dominant power?
Kevin Martin needs to be held criminally liable for his dereliction and maladministration of his duties.
what? another incompetent bush lackey here trying to sell us all down the river?
how can this be? I mean, these repube-lickans are so even handed and competent in their rule, that they now want
Rupert MerdeCock to own EVERYTHING???????????
give me a break. Martin must go. he absolutely must be OUT OF THERE LIKE NOW!
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